The Kalinago Territory, previously known as the Carib Reserve or Carib Territory (outdated/derogatory),"The Spaniards would use the specter of cannibalism, and the label of “Carib,” to justify genocide of Indigenous peoples across the Caribbean and South America for decades to come." is a district in the Caribbean island country of Dominica. It was established for the Indigenous Kalinago people who inhabited the region prior to European colonization and settlement.
The Kalinago Territory was officially formed by British colonial authorities in 1903, in a remote and mountainous area of Dominica's Atlantic coast. Its population remained largely isolated from the rest of the island throughout most of the 20th century, with only a ceremonial chief and no other formal self-governance. On September 19, 1930 the rights of the Indigenous Kalinago were infringed upon in an incident called the "1930's Kalinago Uprising." The skirmish occurred at a shop in St. Cyr, one of the eight hamlets, when colonial law enforcement attempted to seize the goods of the people dubbing it as "smuggling." The Kalinago people who traded craft and their own produce with neighbouring islands to support their livelihoods for generations, were suddenly denied their right to trade as Indigenous people during hard economic times due to a recent devastating hurricane. This decision from the colonial law enforcement was met with resistance and resulted in multiple Kalinagos being injured and two Kalinagos shot dead by the police. The people were met with great injustice, and the Chief at that time, Chief Jolly John was wrongfully imprisoned and stripped of his title. The post of chief was abolished for a number of years following the incident. The Chief was reinstated in 1952, and formalized local government was instituted the same year as part of an island-wide system. The "Carib Reserve Act", enacted the year of Dominica's independence in 1978, reaffirmed the Kalinago Territory's boundaries, its land management, and institutions of local government. In the last decades of the 20th century, modern utilities and infrastructure were finally introduced to the Kalinago Territory, which also established contacts with foreign governments and other indigenous peoples in the region.
The present population of the Kalinago Territory is estimated around 3,000 Kalinago people. Legal residents share communal ownership of all land within the Territory. The Kalinago Territory has limited local government in the institutions of the Kalinago Council, and its head the Kalinago Chief, which are the equivalent in power of village councils and council chairpersons elsewhere in Dominica. The administrative centre is in Salybia, the largest of eight hamlets in the Kalinago Territory.
A modern movement in the Kalinago Territory has supported the rediscovery and preservation of Kalinago culture. This has been fueled in part by Dominica's tourist industry. A model Kalinago village was established in the Territory in 2006. Cultural preservation groups stage performances at the model village and other locations, and practice traditional Kalinago crafts, such as making baskets and pottery, that are sold to tourists as souvenirs.
Category 5 Hurricane Maria (which would later strike Puerto Rico) made a direct hit onto Kalinago Territory in September 2017 causing severe damage to the territory, leaving residents in need. Electricity, Internet, and wired telephone service became unavailable in the territory and were expected to remain so for several months.
History
Establishment of the "Carib Reserve" Dominica is the only Eastern Caribbean island that still has a population of pre-Columbian Indigenous Kalinago, who were exterminated or driven from neighbouring islands. The Kalinago on Dominica fought against the Spanish and later European settlers for two centuries. Over time, however, their population declined and they were forced into remote regions of the island as European settlers and imported African slaves grew in number on the island.. The first reservation of land for the Kalinago people occurred in 1763, when of mountainous land and rocky shoreline around Salybia, on the east coast, were set aside by British colonial authorities as part of the surveying of the island and its division into lots.; ; . A legend arose that this land was set aside by the request of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III; from this another legend spread, and persisted among some Kalinago to the present, that Charlotte had set aside half of Dominica for the Kalinago people.. Later colonial officials were unable to locate any record of a title deed for the , however. ("...and it was probable that no such title had ever existed."). European settlers continued attempts to turn the Kalinago lands into plantations through the end of the 18th century, but the Kalinago successfully held out, often with the assistance of runaway slaves..
In 1902, Henry Hesketh Bell, the Administrator of Dominica, sent a lengthy report to the Colonial Office on the state of the Kalinago people after he had visited its communities.; . The report was sent on July 26, 1902 to Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain. He proposed that 3,700 acres (roughly 2% of Dominica's area) be set aside for the Kalinago, and that a Kalinago "chief" be officially recognized and given a token annual allowance of 6 pounds. Bell's proposals were adopted in 1903, formally establishing the "Carib Reserve".; ; . Its boundaries were announced in the Official Gazette of Dominica on 4 July 1903.. The Kalinago Chief was subsequently endowed with a silver-headed staff, and a ceremonial sash embroidered with "The Chief of the Caribs" in gothic lettering.; . At the time the "Carib Reserve" was established, the Kalinago population of around 400 was extremely isolated from the rest of Dominica, but the community appreciated the token symbols..
"The Carib War" The population of the "Carib Reserve" remained disconnected from the rest of Dominica, seldom seen and largely self-sustaining apart from some limited illegal trade with the neighboring French islands of Marie Galante and Martinique.; Hulme notes that it was easier for the Caribs to travel to other islands than it was the other side of Dominica, owing to the mountainous terrain. The colonial Administrator decided to crack down on this smuggling due to its impact on revenues, and in 1930, five armed policemen entered the Territory to seize smuggled goods and to arrest suspects.; see also for a more detailed account. When the police tried to seize a quantity of rum and tobacco and to take away suspects in Salybia, a crowd gathered in response and hurled stones and bottles. The police fired into the crowd, injuring four, of whom two later died. The police were beaten but managed to escape to Marigot, without having seized prisoners or contraband. The Administrator responded by summoning the Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Delhi to the coast, which fired star shells into the air and displayed searchlights along the shore; the Kalinago ran in fear from this display of force and hid in the woods. Marines landed to aid local police in the search for the perpetrators of the disturbance. Accurate news of the incident was difficult to come by, and rumors instead spread throughout the island of a Kalinago uprising. The Times incorrectly reported that Kalinago had looted and rioted in the capital, Roseau.. The incident is still hyperbolically known as "The Carib War.".
Kalinago Chief Jolly John subsequently surrendered to authorities in Roseau and was charged, with five other Kalinago, with wounding the police officers and theft, though the prosecution fell apart by the following year.. A commission of inquiry was appointed in 1931 by the Governor of the Leeward Islands to investigate the 1930 incident and the situation of the Kalinago generally. The final report found fault on all sides. As a consequence for the Kalinago, the position of Chief was eliminated, the staff and sash were confiscated, and the former chief was forbidden to call himself "king.".
Local government and modern developments The Administrator did not relent to Kalinago petitions for the restoration of the position of Chief until June 1952, when he personally conducted an investiture ceremony and presented the new chief with the staff and sash.. Later that year, the Kalinago Council was created as part of a system of local government for the whole island.; .
The "Carib Reserve Act" was enacted in 1978, the year of Dominican independence. It reaffirmed the boundaries set in 1903, and legally established common ownership of land within the Kalinago Territory.. A broader consequence of the Act was a renewed interest in the distinctiveness of Kalinago identity and in Kalinago culture.. Though under the "Carib Reserve Act", the area was formerly referred to as the 'Carib Reserve', an amendment was approved and added in 2015 and the area's official name is now the Kalinago Territory.Dominica News Online, "Change from Carib to Kalinago now official " 2015
("The reserve was renamed 'Carib Territory' by the Caribs themselves."); ("This land became known as the Carib Reserve, and then, more recently, the Carib Territory."); ("...the Carib Territory, as it is now popularly called..."). Considering the word "reserve" a relic of colonialism and exploitation, as well as negative connotations with the "Carib" (the root of the word 'cannibal'), given to them by European colonizers, Kalinago Territory residents urged the Dominica House of Assembly to officially change the name.Kalinago Reserve Act, Amendment
("The terminology 'Reserve', is a painful reminder of the horrors of colonial rule when native peoples were herded like cattle, and restricted to small unproductive areas of their own country, while the colonialists enriched themselves by exploiting the vast expanses of arable. As a mark of respect for the Carib population and a recognition of their historical and continuing contribution to the building of this nation, an appropriate gesture on the eve of the 21st century might be to erase that racist term from our Statute Books, once and for all."). The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Dominica officially recognized the Kalinago's petition to change the name of "Carib Territory" to "Kalinago Territory". The name change applies to the Chief as well, who is now referred to as Kalinago Chief.
The communities of the Kalinago Territory remained isolated into the late 20th century. A motorable road was not laid through the Territory until 1970; telephone service and electricity were established in the 1980s.. The Kalinago Territory was one of the last areas of Dominica to receive electricity, which began to be installed in 1986.. By 1990, 55% of Kalinago households still did not have access to electricity, and 85% of households did not live within 5 minutes of their nearest water supply.. The Kalinago people have remained possibly the poorest segment of the population of Dominica, which is in turn one of the poorest countries of the Lesser Antilles..
In the 1980s, the Kalinago Territory began to receive material, financial and ideological support from foreign governments, including the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom.. The Territory's leaders also reached out to other indigenous populations in the region, organizing a conference held in Saint Vincent; the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples was subsequently formed.. Successive Kalinago Chiefs also worked with the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations..
Geography